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#1
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
"OhioGuy" wrote in
: Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening? I am at a different location than I was when this happened over 20 years ago. luffas demand heat. i can't grow them in NH, it doesn't get warm enough. i suspect that may be your problem, but if you are getting a few female flowers, try hand pollinating. the immature fruit turning yellow & dropping sounds like lack of pollination lee |
#2
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
This is the first time I've grown luffa gourds in at least 20 years. My
first try back in the late 80's resulted in not a single luffa fruit. Well, it appears that exactly the same thing is happening again. I planted the seeds on the 1st of June, so the plants are now at about the 90 day point. They are strong and vigorous, on a lattice, and get plenty of light. The vines are about 12 to 15 feet long, and 6 or 7 plants survived from about 20 that I planted. They have LOADS of male flowers, but the few immature female fruits that I have seen are very few. Although a few have grown in size a bit, they all end up turning yellow, shriveling up, and either just staying there, or falling off without flowering. It is almost as if the plants have decided "we are only going to make male flowers". The seed packet said 100 days to maturity, so I would have thought I'd have some female fruits by now. From what I've read, the flowers are about all male at first, with a mix of male and female at mid season, and mostly female flowers towards the end. Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening? I am at a different location than I was when this happened over 20 years ago. |
#3
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
On 8/26/09 9:42 AM, in article ,
"enigma" wrote: "OhioGuy" wrote in : Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening? I am at a different location than I was when this happened over 20 years ago. luffas demand heat. i can't grow them in NH, it doesn't get warm enough. i suspect that may be your problem, but if you are getting a few female flowers, try hand pollinating. the immature fruit turning yellow & dropping sounds like lack of pollination lee I grew pumpkins and cukes this year and got 0 pumpkins and 1 cuke and nothing to maturity. c |
#4
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
Cheryl Isaak wrote in
: I grew pumpkins and cukes this year and got 0 pumpkins and 1 cuke and nothing to maturity. Boo has a pumpkin vine that has just started flowering. it's possible, but unlikely, he'll get a pumpkin for halloween if a female flower shows up in the next week. my bushel gourds didn't even come up until 3 weeks ago, even though i planted them in June. i was surprised to see them, actually. i figured the seeds just rotted with the rain & cold. lee |
#5
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
On 8/26/09 2:19 PM, in article ,
"enigma" wrote: Cheryl Isaak wrote in : I grew pumpkins and cukes this year and got 0 pumpkins and 1 cuke and nothing to maturity. Boo has a pumpkin vine that has just started flowering. it's possible, but unlikely, he'll get a pumpkin for halloween if a female flower shows up in the next week. my bushel gourds didn't even come up until 3 weeks ago, even though i planted them in June. i was surprised to see them, actually. i figured the seeds just rotted with the rain & cold. lee It's been a funky year here. Even my favorite farm stand seems "bare" compared to other years. C |
#6
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
few female flowers, try hand pollinating. the immature fruit turning
yellow & dropping sounds like lack of pollination I'm not sure that is the problem - I see loads of bumble bees, wasps and ants in every flower. The trouble is - there are no female flowers. I see the miniature version on the plant now and then, but they never seem to get big enough to actually flower. They get yellow, wither, and fall off. (including the fruit part) |
#7
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Luffa gourds - still no female flowers
Update: I applied bone meal, and also started snipping off the tips of
growing vines as someone suggested. I'm happy to report that there are now nearly a dozen fruits on the plant, and one is about 8" long, and growing more than half an inch a day! |
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